201 . 
J. Wise —On the Barah Bhuyas of Eastern Bengal. [No. 3, 
Raja Lak’han Manik was one of the Bhuyas of Bengal and a contem¬ 
porary of Kandarpa Rai of Chandradip, wlio is known to have been living in 
A. D. 1586. Kandarpa Rai died, and was succeeded, while still a boy, by 
his son Ramchandra Rai. Lak’han Manik, whose principality was only 
separated by the Megna from that of Chandradip, was in the habit of 
talking contemptuously of his youthful neighbour. Rumour soon spread 
the story, and it reached the residence of Ramchandra. He immediately 
ordered his war-boats to be got ready and his followers to be armed. The 
fleet crossed the Megna and anchored off Bhaluah. Lak’han Manik, not 
suspecting any treachery, went on board to welcome bis neighbour without 
any guard. He was at once seized and carried off to Chandradip. The 
youthful Bhuya wished to put him to death, but his mother interceded and 
warned him against committing such a crime. 
Lak’han Manik was for long detained in close confinement; but one 
day when Ramchandra visited him, the prisoner upbraided him with perfidy 
and wilful cruelty. Ramchandra lost all self-control, and ordered him to be 
put to death, which was at once done. 
Of the successors of Lak’han Manik nothing is known. At the present 
day, however, in the village of Srirampur, parganali Bhaluah, are several 
poor kayasths, who claim to be descended from an elder branch of this 
Bhuya’s family. 
There are several circumstances connected with this Bhuya which are 
of interest in a historical point of view. Abulfazl in his Ain i Akbari. 
says, “ Tiparah is independent ; its king is Bijai Manik. The kings all 
bear the name of Manik.”* The third son of Lak’han Manik was Bijai 
Manik, and in the genealogy of the family he has Raja prefixed to his 
name. As he lived about the time Abulfazl wrote, he is probably the 
person referred to, and not the Bijai Manik of the Tiparah Raj-mala. 
It is difficult to understand how this Bhuya held possession of his 
frontier post, while Portuguese, Mags, and wild liillmen were pillaging, as 
we know they did, both banks of the Megna during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. It is still more surprising that he should have been 
left unmolested by the Raja of Tiparah, since Bhaluah was separated from 
other portions of the Muhammadan empire by lands which often belonged 
* The Bengali story is that one of the Rajas of Tiparah went to Dihll with a 
“ nazar” for the emperor. Among the offerings was a magnificent ruby, which the Raja 
called by its Sanskrit name “ Manik,” and not by its Persian, “ Lai.” The emperor was 
puzzled by the word, and when it was explained, he gave it as an honorary title to the 
Raja. The story goes on to state that this gem was found in a toad; for it is an 
universal belief among natives, as it was in Shakespeare’s time, that— 
“ The toad ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” 
